E3 2012: Who won E3 - the Nintendo 3DS or the PS Vita?

With the majority of PS Vita and Nintendo 3DS E3 announcements delivered, I have been tasked with crowning a winner of the show. And quite honestly, it feels a bit like picking the least guilty-looking criminal out of a police line-up.

Both Nintendo's and Sony's handheld E3 showings were, in a word, underwhelming. In several words, they were lacking any noteworthy surprises. In even more words, Sony and Nintendo played it very safe, indeed. We can count the number of new exciting franchises revealed at the show on one hand.

Still, there's enough coming over the course of the next year to hopefully help us forget the yawn-inducing moments at E3 - so, let's focus on what these two competitors have in store for us.

Sony, Nintendo: I'd tell you two that I want a good, clean fight today, but, in all honesty, you both appear quite uninterested in the battle. Let's start with you, Nintendo, anyway...

Nintendo's 3DS E3 showing

Anyone tuning in to the main Nintendo E3 conference specifically for news on 3DS games (as we were) will have been hugely disappointed.

The company focused most of its energy on the Wii U, only turning the spotlight onto the 3DS to mention New Super Mario Bros. 2, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, and Paper Mario: Sticker Star - all of which we already knew about.

Fortunately, a second conference on Wednesday evening devoted solely to the 3DS contained loads of details on forthcoming software for The Big N's newest handheld, although we were still left feeling rather uninspired.

Saying that, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate is looking right up our alley, and so is Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion. Scribblenauts Unlimited then put a smile on our faces, while third-party titles such as Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes and Heroes of Ruin had us certain that the future is bright for the 3DS.

And yet, in terms of new IP and innovation in the market, Nintendo was severely lacking. Most of the titles showcased during Ninty's two press conferences were obvious sequels and ports, and not many of them really took us by storm.

In fact, it was probably what Nintendo didn't show during its presentations that generated the most column inches in the subsequent days.

Where, for example, was Animal Crossing 3DS? And why exactly did Nintendo forget to mention during the shows that Fire Emblem: Awakening is on its way to the West? A steady but slightly uninspiring E3 for the Nintendo 3DS, then.

Sony's E3 conference suffered from a slightly different problem from Nintendo's. Sony was ready with a large number of new and upcoming Vita games, but decided to... well, not actually show them off.

During the Japanese titan's press event, it confirmed that PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is coming to PS Vita, as expected, and that PSone classics are also on the way. Good news all round.

Assassin's Creed III: Liberation was then revealed and... ah. That was basically it. The rest of the conference was all PlayStation 3 this and PlayStation Move that, and the Vita didn't really get any more airtime.

Which was a huge shame, for hiding away in the bowels of the internet were, in fact, many, many more Vita E3 announcements.

Games like Soul Sacrifice, Orgarhythm, Pulzar, and Guacamelee are all looking feisty, while Call of Duty: Black Ops - Declassified, Persona 4 Golden, and Metal Gear Solid HD Collection are all much-loved franchises that could spark some major interest in the Vita.

Why Sony decided to bury all these new IPs and exciting announcements in a sizzle reel rather than show them off during the conference to an audience who, you know, would quite like to see some Vita games is a bit baffling.

Both companies played a pretty strange hand at E3, in truth. Nintendo dedicated an entire hour to just the 3DS and yet failed to ignite our loins, throwing out tried-and-tested franchises all over the park and barely announcing anything we hadn't already heard about.

Sony, on the other hand, did have some rounds of new ammunition, but decided to play it safe and show off only the games it thought we wanted to see.

Taking all of this into account, it's a tough call determining who won E3. We would rather say neither did, in all honesty. However, based on the fact that the majority of the games Nintendo decided to wheel out this week were unveiled at last year's E3 (we're looking at you, Luigi's Mansion and Paper Mario), we're going to give the victory to Sony.

One thing is certain, however: neither company is reacting to the smartphone and tablet attack particularly well. Long-standing franchises are all well and good, but if you don't allow new characters and games to bloom, your library is going to become rather stale. And sharpish.

I mean - haven't we played New Super Mario Bros 2. half a dozen times before?